Breaking Down the Giants' Return on Investment from the Defense and Special Teams
In the first part of our breakdown covering the return on investment, the Giants have gotten from their offensive position units, the production or lack thereof resulted in several fair to poor ratings.
In this installment, I looked at the defense and special teams. Not surprisingly, given how the defense has played all season, the return on investment has been much better looking across the board.
The Giants defense has been a top-10 unit in the NFC all season long and has ranked anywhere from fifth to 17th league-wide in total defense.
In particular, the run defense has been a strength, ranking in the top-10 league-wide for the last six weeks, while the pass defense has ranked in the bottom third of the league since peaking at No. 2 after Week 2 of the season.
As I did with the offense, I broke down the current defense and special teams units with the help of Spotrac’s figures to conclude as to what kind of return on investment the Giants have gotten so far.
Defensive Line
Giants: $24.513 million
NFL Rank: 22nd
Value: Excellent
A large chunk of this cap total is being taken up by defensive lineman Leonard Williams, who is playing on the franchise tag ($16.126 million).
So let's start there. The Giants had hoped to get Williams' number down before the July 15 deadline, but due to some uncertainty regarding how Patrick Graham would deploy Williams, the two sides did not consummate a new deal.
Thus far, Williams has played 490 defensive snaps and has lined up inside on the majority of those snaps. But he's also had a few snaps playing defensive end and has even stood up a few times, something he told reporters on Monday he preferred not to do.
Let's look at the production starting with the run. Per PFF, Williams has a 6.3% run-stop rate, which puts him 33rd out of 48 defensive linemen who have played at least 150 run snaps this season. That percentage puts him behind teammates Dalvin Tomlinson (9.4%, tied for ninth) and Dexter Lawerence (6.9%, 24th).
But just because Williams is bringing up the rear among his teammates doesn't mean that he's been ineffective. Quite often, his presence alone opens things up for his teammates to benefit.
This is especially true in the pass rush. Besides leading the Giants interior linemen and edge rushers with a 6.8% pass-rush productivity rate (which factors in a team-leading 33 total pass-rush pressures), Williams is off to his best season since 2018 when he recorded five sacks as a member of the Jets.
But in sticking with the defensive line, the duo of Dalvin Tomlinson and Dexter Lawrence, both of whom are on their respective rookie contracts, have made the return on investment at this position to be an outstanding value.
Tomlinson, who is having the most complete year of his career as both a run-stopper and pass-rusher, is fourth on the team in total tackles and passes defensed.
With 15 total pass-rush pressures and six games to go, he should easily top his career-high total of 18.
Regarding Lawerence, the coaching staff has had him settle in at left defensive tackle for most of his snaps this season (237 out of 397), which is a departure from how he was deployed last year in which he was moved around more.
Lawrence hasn't recorded as many quarterback pressures (18) as he did as a rookie (30), but he is on pace to top his run-defense production (run stops) by a significant margin.
Linebackers
Giants: $23.554 million
NFL Rank: 12th
Value Grade: Very Good
Blake Martinez ($10 million), Kyler Fackrell ($4.6 million), and David Mayo ($3.55 million) make up 63.4% of the money allocated to the linebacker position (note: I've included inside and outside linebackers).
The results so far have been well worth it in most categories starting with the run. Mayo (11.8) and Martinez (10.2) are ranked first and third respectively on the Giants in run-stop percentage (the percentage representing the number of run-game tackles in which they stopped the opponent for zero or negative yards).
League-wide, of the 44 linebackers who have played 200 or more run defense snaps this season, Martinez's run-stop percentage is ranked fifth.
If that's not enough to justify the money allocated to Martinez, how about the fact that he's ranked fifth per NFL stats in total tackles (96), having dropped out of the top spot thanks to his team being on a bye?
And according to a query run at NFL Savant, 67 of Martinez's 96 tackles have been made within five yards or less of the line of scrimmage.
From a pass-rush perspective, Fackrell is tied with Lawrence for second on the team in sacks (3.0), but his eight quarterback hits rank second behind Williams' 16.
In addition, Fackrell has forced a fumble, recorded an interception, and has two passes defensed--all clutch numbers that have had a bearing on other plays.
Overall, this Giants group of linebackers won't make anyone forget the Hall of Fame talent the unit had in the 1980s and into part of the 1990s.
But it is certainly fair to say that this group of Giants linebackers is perhaps the best the team has put on the field in years.
Defensive Secondary
Giants: $27.701 million
NFL Rank: 17th
Value Grade: Excellent
(Spotrac didn't separate the corners from the safeties, for what it's worth, the Giants have $20,414,735 committed to their cornerback position and $7,286,964 committed to their safeties.)
James Bradberry and Logan Ryan. Does anything more need to be said?
Okay, you've come this far, so no sense in shortchanging you, right? Let's start with Bradberry. He's tied for the league lead in passes defensed with Chicago's Jaylon Johnson (11), his 68.2 passer rating ties him for 12th league-wide among corners with at least 350 defensive snaps (with former Giant Janoris Jenkins), and he's allowed just 55.4% of the pass targets against him to be completed, 14th among the 49 corners in this sample size.
All that production for just a $10 million cap hit plus Bradberry gives the Giants a solid run defender and a guy who usually travels with the opponent's best receiver and, for the most part, keeps him from wrecking the game.
Good value? No. Try outstanding value and a sound return on the team's investment.
Ryan? Currently, the NFC's top vote-getting free safety for the Pro Bowl (and the only Giant player leading the vote as of Wednesday, has been everything the Giants thought they were getting and then some, both on and off the field.
He's second on the team in total tackles (58), behind linebacker Blake Martinez and is second behind Bradberry in passes defended (7). What's especially impressive is how Ryan went the entire summer looking for a team, missing the critical off-season installs and such.
Yet when he stepped into the Giants defense after signing a one-year deal worth $6.55 million, you certainly couldn't tell that he didn't have the off-season that so many players find important, nor could you tell that he made a full-time switch from slot corner to safety.
Again, outstanding value and return on investment.
Now let's talk about some of the younger, less expensive players at the safety position. Jabrill Peppers ($1.875 million) is still on his rookie deal, but between his play as a box safety and a punt returner, he's delivered a high return on the Giants' investment.
Peppers is third on the team in tackles (50) and passes defensed (6), and leads the Giants defensive backs with 1.5 sacks.
As a punt returner, he's averaged 12.2 yards/return, tied for sixth in the NFL. Thanks to Peppers, the Giants team average in point returns is 10.9, making this the first time since the 2015 season that the Giants as a team have had a punt return average in the double-digits.
Although we've yet to see rookie Xavier McKinney--McKinney's 21-day window to return from the injured reserve list is currently open--he figures to pair with Peppers as soon as next year. That would give the Giants two young and dynamic safeties who will still be on their respective rookie deals.
Specialists
Giants: $4.673 million
NFL Rank: 19th
Value Grade: Excellent
Is there any question that the Giants kicking battery—punter Riley Dixon, kicker Grama Gano, and long snapper Casey Kreiter—have been a quiet strength of this team?
Before his COVID-19 diagnosis, the newly extended Gano was tied for the league lead in field goal conversion percentage with a .955 rate. However, he dropped down to fifth over the bye—still pretty good and still very much worth the Giants' investment.
Dixon, who has a 44.2 gross average and a 41.4 net average, isn’t ranked up at the top of either category. Still, between his booming, directional kicks and the job done by the coverage group, the Giants punt coverage team has given up just 59 return yards, sixth-best among punters with at least 20 puns this season.
Finally, Kreiter is a guy whose name you don’t hear very often, which is a good thing. Kreiter isn’t like predecessor Zak DeOssie in his prime, who used to be among the first ones down the field to make tackles, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that Kreiter’s snaps have been uneventful, which, again, is a good thing.
Get the latest New York Giants news by joining our community. Click "Follow" at the top right of our SI Giants Country page. Mobile users click the notification bell.
